The Electronic Frontier Foundation’s FOIA Litigation for Accountable Government Project uses open-records requests to shine a light on the federal government’s clandestine encroachment upon Americans’ privacy:

-In October, it sued the U.S. Department of Justice seeking disclosure of records concerning the FBI’s DCS-3000, a $10 million system for monitoring e-mail and Internet activity, apparently evolved from the controversial, pre-9/11 Carnivore program; and Red Hook, a $1.5 million system for collecting telephone voice and data calls.

-Later in October, it sued the Justice Department again, this time seeking disclosure of records on the scope and privacy impact of the FBI’s Investigative Data Warehouse, a huge database holding hundreds of millions of records containing personal information.

-In December, it sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for records on the Automated Targeting System, which creates and assigns “risk assessments” for tens of millions of citizens traveling in and out of the country.

DHS in November had said the program would be launched Dec. 4, but later admitted it already has been in operation for years. EFF wants records including any describing redress for people who believe the system has inaccurate information on them, or discussing ATS’s potential consequences for travelers.

-In January, it sued the U.S. Department of Defense demanding information on how the Army Web Risk Assessment Cell reviews hundreds of thousands of Web sites per month, notifying webmasters and blogging soldiers when it finds information it deems inappropriate. Some soldiers have told reporters they’ve cut back on their blog posts or shut down their sites altogether because of the monitoring.

-Twelve days ago, it sued the Justice Department for records on secret new court orders supposedly authorizing a government electronic surveillance program intercepting and analyzing millions of Americans’ communications. News reports forced the Bush administration to acknowledge the program in December 2005, and although it claimed the program could be conducted without warrants or any other judicial authorization, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in January said the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court had authorized some surveillance.

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